Red King, White Queen
by antimoony
Summary: Roy Mustang explains to Hawkeye their relationship, using an alchemical theory he remembered after first meeting Edward and Alphonse Elric.


A/N.: Hello there! So, some time ago I was researching alchemy just because. It is a very interesting subject, and I was surprised with what I found out. Every single thing I'm writing here are actually true concepts considered alchemy basics, and I like to think that Hiromu Arakawa knows that too since she did a lot of researches. Thanks for reading and feel free to confirm the information about to come!

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Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang doesn't know how to cook properly. He is bad at geography, he doesn't sing well, he never won a pool game against any of his subordinates. But, boy, he is good in alchemy.

He knows, for example, that alchemists are pompous bastards that love allegories and unbreakable codes. And, if they can use allegories to explain something, they probably will. Alone with his Lieutenant in his office, his mind flashed with memories of the day before, when they met Edward and Alphonse Elric: in their empty house stained in blood and taboos, he saw a lot of their studies about the Perfect Being, represented allegorically by the Sun and the Moon, male and female together, in one unit. He used to love that theory, and now that it has found its way back to him he was truly amazed.

Was it possible not to think about his relationship with her? Their bizarre perfect synchrony, the way they cover each other's weak points? Was it too much of a coincidence?

"Say, Hawkeye, have you ever heard of the Red King and the White Queen Chemical Marriage?"

"I don't think I have, sir."

Liar. Of course she knew about it: his first acknowledges about the matter came in one of the books in her possession, when he was under Berthold Hawkeye's apprenticeship. Even if she wasn't exactly an alchemy lover, she used to love the allegories alchemists used. He knew she loved the theory too because, once upon a time, Riza Hawkeye asked him to explain the alchemy behind that story.

At that time, he wasn't a good teacher. Maybe he even didn't understand it properly so he could simplify it for her.

"Then let me tell you about it. In alchemy, the Red King and White Queen are allegorically brought together in the great work to produce a united whole. Their union is often called as The Chemical Marriage. In illustrations, they are represented interacting with courtship and sex… sometimes, although, they are represented as if just starting to get close to each other, the King offering the Queen flowers."

Her secretive smile didn't escape his eyes. It was common for him to try giving her flowers, which she would always refuse.

"Is that so, Sir?"

"That's so. And you know what it literally means in an alchemical sense, beyond the allegory?"

"Please, enlighten me."

"The Red King represents the Sun, the male, and its element is Sulfur. The White Queen is the Moon, the female, and its element is Mercury. Descriptions of alchemical processes often describe the reactions of sulfur and mercury, you know? The Red King is sulfur, the active, volatile and fiery principle, while the White Queen is mercury, the material, passive, fixed principle. Mercury has substance, but is has no definitive form on its own. It needs an active principle to shape it…"

His smirk slowly faded as he stopped in this part. It was uncanny, all of this, like it was meant to be. The way he shaped the secrets in her back into something active always made his stomach sank.

He knew she noticed his change because, not long after his pause, she urged him to continue. She knew what was about to come.

"Tell me more about this, sir."

"… some illustrations shows the King saying, in an ancient language, "Oh Luna (Moon), let me be thy husband," reinforcing the marriage imagery. The Queen, however, says "Oh Sol (Sun), I must submit to thee, like she is in submission, like she is being molded…"

His mind flashed again to a specific situation they lived years before.

 _\- Will you follow me?  
\- I will follow you into hell if you ask me to._

"Well, sir, but mercury or the queen has the substance, like you said, so maybe it just looks like she is agreeing for submission, when it's not like that. They are equals, you see? Maybe her submission is part of a persona, or it's just the way she acts, because the elements are a whole, right?"

He chuckled at her. What an amazing woman.

"I think you are right. Understanding this makes you more apt to be an alchemist than half of the military alchemists we have here.

And do you know what else is funny? While the Sun/Sulfur is Spirit, Moon/Mercury is Soul. When they marry, they finally become a whole. It's an insane concept, don't you think? The Soul and The Spirit, the life and the being. They can't exist without the other. You would have an empty life with no spirit or no life at all with just a sad spirit alone. I think these elements are meant to be together, Hawkeye."

She looked right in his eyes as she moved toward him, a stack of paper in her hands.

"I do think so, sir. But maybe these elements have something important to do before they can even be close."

As she lowered the paperwork in front of him, her hand brushed his own softly, a sad smile gracing her face.

She was right; in fact, they had a lot to do. But he'd be damned if he would disrespect what alchemy had already established as true.


End file.
